On Friday, the employees at Foxconn – the vast Chinese factory that makes a huge array of must-have western electronics such as iPads, iPhones and Dell computers – received a 66% increase in their wages. It is the second rise in four months and average pay will now be about $300 (£190) a month.

It is shameful that it took 12 suicides for workers to get better treatment at this manufacturing behemoth, which employs more than 300,000 people, most housed in on-site tower-block dormitories.

The Foxconn pay rise is not isolated. A number of UK retailers that rely on imports from China have also reported rising wage costs. That poverty wages have gone up is to be welcomed – although the cost will be passed on to the factories' multinational customers and their western consumers.

It is very good news indeed for China, which is subsidising domestic wage growth. There will be a growth-enhancing boost to domestic demand – and someone else is paying for it.